介绍:
Music is supposed to be pleasant for the ear and comforting for human souls. But last year we really had a few songs that tortured our ears. Now Li Ningjing will have a look at some of the most bonkers music created by Chinese musicians over the past year.
"Feeling Great" by Wowkie zhang, former lead singer from of the boy band Flowers had the honor of performing on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala in 2014. Despite its initial hype, the audience soon got tired of it. There also seem to be some similarities between the electro-dance number and other very popular songs, for example, Psy's Gangnam Style.
Putting aside the controversy over plagerism, this is just another song in a pile up of popular music without much original music scores. The lyrics are also made up of happy nonsense: "I just love this cool feeling of feeling great. The sky looks bright and the land so wide. Love fills up my heart and makes me forget myself." He continues to sing, "If something does happen, the words,'it's nothing'will cross my mind and I'd get over it in a sec."
Although there is a severe lack of depth, the song itself is not badly produced. But, you can't listen to it too many times.
Having said that, "Feeling Great" will sound like a heavenly tune if compared with My Dance Shoes, the song that I'm about to present you.
My Dance Shoes was written by Josehan Pang-mai-lang. The song tells the story of how a young man longed to get a pair of dance shoes, because they look cool.
I don't know how many of us have listened to it, loathed it, nonetheless listened to it again trying to figure out why it is popular. The singer and song writer Josehan Pang-mai-lang is a grassroots singer who hasn't received much music education. Even in songs that are released, he keeps singing out of tune. His strong local accent makes his articulation bad in the song. The lyrics are more like a memo written by a primary school student.
The song murmurs a tiring long story of how he went to all the trouble to buy a pair of dream dancing shoes. Perhaps the only line that can be remembered by listeners are: "My skating shoes are the most cool. On my way home I couldn't stop rubbing-rubbing them against the smooth ground. It sounded like the sneaking sound of a ghost."
What makes this song popular on the web is beyond the comprehension of a lot of people. Some say it is the contrast between the unfounded confidence of the singer and his bad singing, others say it's the huge disparity between the life of the singer and the real world. But anyway, a record company found interest in Pang-mai-lang and made a record for this song and left us with a lot to discuss and think about.
2014 is a year where Chinese musicians are full of creative and "experimental" spirit, if we can call it "experimental". Entering the unofficial weird music hall of fame is Chinese pop singer Wang Rong's 'Chick Chick', which may be the most cynical experiment of viral music ever. The lyrics of "Chick chick" consist of only three words of substance: chick, hen, rooster. Other than that, it's made up of five different farm noises, from cuckoos to rooster clucks.
If you watch the video, you'll be more awestruck, as the video shows dancers in white tutus clucking like chickens, roosters, hens, and dogs, and a group of shirtless men dancing, sporting various animal masks. The video has gone viral on youtube and became a competitor to Ylvis brothers' viral hit "What Does the Fox Say".
It's hard to imagine that just couple of years back, Wang Rong was still a talented pop sensation who amazed the country with a song like this.
What a change! So much for "chick chick". Now prepare to be shocked once again, because we are going to play you some "Agricultural Heavy Metal".
Never heard of Agricultural Heavy Metal? Never mind. You'll know soon enough. It's invented by Chinese ethnic singer A Bao, who's most famous for his very original rendering of folk songs of Northwest China. But obviously he decided to try something different last year and Agricultural Heavy Metal was the result of his bold musical adventures. The song's title alludes to industrial metal, but it has very little to do with it. A feeling of contentment with country life, which sharply contrasts that of urbanites is perhaps what he meant to express through the song. The most famous line is "Agricultural heavy metal, who can be as rustic as me!"
2014 has been an exciting year for the above mentioned musicians. But as ordinary folks, we want to say "Nice try. But could we please have something less "experimental" this year?
